Russia exports 10 million m³ of timber in H1 2023
According to data from the Integrated Forestry Information System (IFIS) provided by Roslesinforg, Russia's state forest accounting and management organisation, in the first half of 2023, Russia supplied 10 million m³ of export timber to 48 countries. Of this, sawn timber exports to China have exceeded 6 million cubic metres, up 6.3% compared to 6.121 million m³ in the same period last year. Logs, on the other hand, fell 32.2 per cent to 956,000m³. The Russian timber industry is rapidly re-targeting its exports to China.
01
Softwood imports grow significantly
Of the timber species recorded by China's customs, imports of Russian timber in the first half of the year were basically the same as in the same period last year, -0.89% year-on-year to 7.465 million m³, with imports amounting to 10.28 billion yuan. Among them, logs showed an overall decline, sawn timber overall upward trend, this trend is also in line with the ban on log exports from 1 January 2022 in Russia. However, from a single species of imports, some of the wood species of the number of imports of large changes in the number of softwood imports have increased significantly.
The most obvious rise in quantity was for oak sawn timber, from 47,697m³ in the first half of 2022 to 64,061m³ in the first half of 2023, an increase of 34.31 per cent; while the most obvious decline in quantity was for ash sawn timber, from 57,098m³ in the same period last year, a decline of 42.94 per cent to 32,582m³. At the same time, the import volume ranked ** fir and spruce sawn timber, an increase of 16.46 per cent to 2.812 million m³. Red pine and camphor pine were flat, -0.01% year-on-year to 2.3 million m³; other species with more growth were birch sawn timber, up 23.97% to 347,000 m³; and other pine sawn timber, up 22.99% to 98,700 m³;
02
Regional export growth to China
In terms of timber species, the growth in imported Russian oak was fuelled by the contraction of oak exports from other European countries, which has led to a significant increase in Russian oak exports to China. And pine growth to China is continuing and steady, and may break through previous years' export figures in 2023. Russia's northern timber exports to China have grown, but not as significantly as in the west-central and south-eastern regions of Siberia. In particular, Yugra's timber exports to China in January-May this year have reached 84,800m³, far exceeding the 58,600m³ in the same period last year, an increase of 44.7%. Vologda region's timber exports to China in January-May have even increased by 129.4 per cent, from 167,000m³ in the same period last year to 383,100m³. The western Tomsk Oblast, which is farther away from China, has also increased its output to the Chinese market this year, with China accounting for 27 per cent of the 482,300m³ of timber exported, or about 130,000m³. The export of 2,100m³ of birch logs to China was also increased.
These data are also visualised in the export figures of wood companies. Sudoma, a large export-oriented wood enterprise located in the Pskov region, which previously had an export structure with 30% orientated towards the Middle East and South-East Asia and 70% towards the European market, today, after repositioning its timber sales and logistics layout, the Asian and Middle Eastern markets have become its ** and most important markets.
With the Russian timber market to China turned, for the domestic market demand for pine wood is currently weak, imported pine wood or will not have the price advantage. And Russia's imported hardwoods driven by China's demand and the shrinking global hardwood trade or will maintain more growth.
